HatsForMice: Girl pulled into a fantasy world only to discover she's a part of it. Stephanie/Valkyrie is a stronger character than Clary, too.
Obviously this is for a slightly younger readership, so if you're in it for the romance, you won't find it here until the 4th book.… (more)

After reading City of Bones, I can assure you I am not the same. I do not see the world as I used to; I draw runes in my hands and on sheets of paper. Cassandra Clare opened up a new world for me with the sassiest of male characters I have ever met and will always love (ehem, Jace..)Great book! I love this series ( )

I have conflicting thoughts about this book. Overall, I like it, but I think it could have been so much better in so many ways.I really liked the universe created by Cassandra Clare. I thought she did a far better job than Rick Riordan in creating a brand new world that exists parallel to the world as we know. I also enjoyed the "secondary" story that happened long before the Shadowhunters' saga. I loved the fact that, by the end of the book, you aren't sure in whom you can trust anymore. The main journey however was awful for me. I was never a fan of love triangles and in this book it felt specially annoying. I could not connect to the main characters no matter how hard I tried, their decisions seemed very immature, as if they were acting on impulse the whole time. One could argue that this is how most teenagers act, but after reading so many books with teenagers as main characters (most markedly The Fault in Our Stars - or even The Hunger Games trilogy), I question that fact. Most of Clary's issues sounded more like "First World Problems" for me.What really shines in this book are things that happened in the past. Jace's story of the Falcon was, for me, one of the best things about him (but I still strongly disliked him). Valentine's story? Absolutely awesome. The whole war would have made a whole book, there was so much depth in that back story.

I still plan on reading the rest of the books, but I can't exactly say that I'm looking forward to hear the rest of the story. ( )

Very easily read YA fiction in the realm of Harry Potter and Twilight. Fast paced plotting. Lots of parental abandonment issues. 15 year old, feisty central heroine. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy, but not tonight! ( )

"You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.

Quotations

"Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt," she told him."I can't help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain.""Your pain will be outer soon if you don't get out of traffic. Are you trying to get run over by a cab?""Don't be ridiculous," he said. "We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood."

"Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?""If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked."

"If you were half as funny as you think you are, you'd be twice as funny as you are now."

"Jesus!" Luke exclaimed."Actually, it's just me," said Simon. "Although I've been told the resemblance is startling."

"Unfortunately", said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing."

Last words

Her stomach dropped out from under her as the silver river spun away and the spires of the bridge slid under her feet, but this time Clary kept her eyes open, so that she could see it all.

Wikipedia in English (3)

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.